The procedures for introducing
legislation and seeing it through committees are similar in both the
House of Representatives and the Senate.

Legislative proposals originate in
a number of different ways. Members of the Senate, of course,
develop ideas for legislation. Technical assistance in research and
drafting legislative language is available at the Senate Legislative
Technical Affairs Bureau. Special interest groups—business,
religious, labor, urban and rural poor, consumers, trade
association, and the like—are other fertile sources of legislation.
Constituents, either as individuals or groups, also may propose
legislation. Frequently, a member of the Senate will introduce such
a bill by request, whether or not he supports its purposes.

It must be noted also that much of
the needed legislation of the country today considered by Congress
originates from the executive branch. Each year after the President
of the Philippines outlines his legislative program in his
State-of-the-Nation Address, executive departments and agencies
transmit to the House and the Senate drafts of proposed legislations
to carry out the President’s program.

No matter where a legislative
proposal originates, it can be introduced only by a member of
Congress. In the Senate, a member may introduce any of several types
of bills and resolutions by filing it with the Office of the
Secretary.

There is no limit to the number of
bills a member may introduce. House and Senate bills may have joint
sponsorship and carry several members' names.

Major legislation is often
introduced in both houses in the form of companion (identical)
bills, the purpose of which is to speed up the legislative process
by encouraging both chambers to consider the measure simultaneously.
Sponsors of companion bills may also hope to dramatize the
importance or urgency of the issue and show broad support for the
legislation.

The type of measures that Congress
may consider and act upon (in addition to treaties in the Senate)
include bills and three kinds of resolutions. They are:

1. Bills

These are general measures,
which if passed upon, may become laws. A bill is prefixed
with S., followed by a number assigned the measure based on
the order in which it is introduced. The vast majority of
legislative proposals––recommendations dealing with the
economy, increasing penalties for certain crimes, regulation
on commerce and trade, etc., are drafted in the form of
bills. They also include budgetary appropriation of the
government and many others. When passed by both chambers in
identical form and signed by the President or repassed by
Congress over a presidential veto, they become laws.

2. Joint
Resolutions

A joint resolution, like a
bill, requires the approval of both houses and the signature
of the President. It has the force and effect of a law if
approved. There is no real difference between a bill and a
joint resolution. The latter generally is used when dealing
with a single item or issue, such as a continuing or
emergency appropriations bill. Joint resolutions are also
used for proposing amendments to the Constitution.

3. Concurrent
Resolutions

A concurrent resolution is
usually designated in the Senate as S. Ct. Res. It is used
for matters affecting the operations of both houses and must
be passed in the same form by both of them. However, they
are not referred to the President for his signature, and
they do not have the force of law. Concurrent resolutions
are used to fix the time of adjournment of a Congress and to
express the “sense of Congress” on an issue.

4. Simple
Resolutions

It is usually designated
with P. S. Res. A simple resolution deals with matters
entirely within the prerogative of one house of Congress,
such as adopting or receiving its own rules. A simple
resolution is not considered by the other chamber and is not
sent to the President for his signature. Like a concurrent
resolution, it has no effect and force of a law. Simple
resolutions are used occasionally to express the opinion of
a single house on a current issue. Oftentimes, it is also
used to call for a congressional action on an issue
affecting national interest.

Once a measure has been introduced
and given a number, it is read and referred to an appropriate
committee. It must be noted that during the reading of the bill,
only the title and the author is read on the floor. The Senate
President is responsible for referring bills introduced to
appropriate committees.

The jurisdictions of the Standing
Committees are spelled out in Rule X, Section 13 of the Rules of the
Senate. For example, if a bill involves matters relating to
agriculture, food production and agri-business, it must be referred
to the Committee on Agriculture and Food.

The standing committees of the
Senate, operating as “little legislatures,” determine the fate of
most proposals. There are committee hearings scheduled to discuss
the bills referred. Committee members and staff frequently are
experts in the subjects under their jurisdiction, and it is at the
committee stage that a bill comes under the sharpest scrutiny. If a
measure is to be substantially revised, the revision usually occurs
at the committee level.

A committee may dispose of a bill
in one of several ways: it may approve, or reject, the legislation
with or without amendments; rewrite the bill entirely; reject it,
which essentially kills the bill; report it favorably or without
recommendation, which allows the chamber to consider the bill at
all. It must be noted that under Section 29, Rule XI of the Rules of
the Senate, if the reports submitted are unfavorable, they shall be
transmitted to the archives of the Senate, unless five Senators
shall, in the following session, move for their inclusion in the
Calendar for Ordinary Business, in which case the President shall so
order.

A committee report describes the
purpose and scope of the bill, explains any committee amendments,
indicates proposed changes in existing law and such other materials
that are relevant. Moreover, reports are numbered in the order in
which they are filed and printed.

Under Section 45 of Rule XVI of the
Rules of the Senate, the Senate shall have three calendars, to wit:

A “Calendar
for Ordinary Business," in which shall be included the bills
reported out by the committees in the order in which they were
received by the Office of the Secretary; the bills whose
consideration has been agreed upon by the Senate without setting
the dates on which to effect it; and also the bills whose
consideration has been postponed indefinitely;

A “Calendar
for Special Orders,” in which the bills and resolutions shall be
arranged successively and chronologically, according to the
order in which they were assigned for consideration; and

A “Calendar
for Third Reading,” in which shall be included all bills and
joint resolutions approved on second reading.

Thus, a bill which has a committee
report can be referred to the “Calendar for Ordinary Business.” It
may again be moved to its “Special Order of Business” for priority
action.

On the other hand, the
consideration and debate of bills and resolutions are spelled out in
Rule XXV, Section 71 of the Rules of the Senate. It provides as
follows:

Sec. 71.
The Senate shall adopt the following procedure in the
consideration of bills and joint resolutions:

(a)
Second reading of the bill.

(b)
Sponsorship by the committee chairman, or by any member
designated by the committee.

(c) If
a debate ensues, turns for and against the bill shall be
taken alternately: Provided, however, That any committee
member who fails to enter his objection or to make of record
his dissenting vote after it shall have been included in the
Order of Business and read to the Senate in accordance with
the second paragraph of Section 24 hereof, shall not be
allowed to speak against the bill during the period of
general debate although he may propose and speak or vote on
amendments thereto.

(d) The
sponsor of the bill or author of the motion shall have the
right to close the debate.

(e)
With the debate closed, the consideration of amendments, if
any, shall be in order.

(f)
After the period of amendments, the voting of the bill on
Second Reading.

(g)
Bills shall be submitted to final vote by yeas and nays
after printed copies thereof in final form have been
distributed to the Members at least three (3) days prior to
their passage, except when the President of the Philippines
certifies to the necessity of their immediate enactment to
meet a public calamity or emergency, in which case the
voting on Third Reading may take place immediately after
second reading.

After the bill is approved on Third
Reading, it will be submitted to the House of Representatives for
consideration. A bill passed by the Senate and transmitted to the
House usually goes to a committee, unless a House bill on the same
subject has already been reported out by the appropriate committee
and placed on the calendar.

Under normal procedures, therefore,
a bill passed by one chamber and transmitted to the other is
referred to the appropriate committee, from which it must follow the
same route to passage as a bill originating from that chamber.

Amendments may be offered at both
the committee and floor action stages, and the bill as it emerges
from the second chamber may differ significantly from the version
passed by the first. A frequently used procedure when this occurs is
for the chamber that acts last to bring up the other chamber’s bill
and substitute its own version, then retaining only the latter’s
bill number. That numbered bill, containing the Senate and House
version, is then sent to a conference committee to resolve all
differences.

Either chamber can request a
conference once both have considered the same legislation.
Generally, the chamber that approved the legislation first will
disagree to the amendments made by the second body and will make a
request that a conference be convened. Sometimes, however, the
second body will ask for a conference immediately after it has
passed the legislation, assuming that the other chamber will not
accept its amendments.

Selection of
Conferees

Under the Rules of the Senate (Rule
XII, Section 34), the Senate President shall designate the members
of the Senate panel in the conference committee with the approval of
the Senate. The Senate delegation to a conference can range in size
from three to a larger number, depending on the length and
complexity of the legislation involved.

Authority of
Conferees

The authority given to the Senate
conferees theoretically is limited to matters in disagreement
between the two chambers. They are not authorized to delete
provisions or language agreed to by both the House and the Senate as
to draft entirely new provisions.

In practice, however, the conferees
have wide latitude, except where the matters in disagreement are
very specific. Moreover, conferees attempt to reconcile their
differences, but generally they try to grant concession only insofar
as they remain confident that the chamber they represent will accept
the compromise.

The Conference
Report

When the conferees have reached
agreement on a bill, the conference committee staff writes a
conference report indicating changes made in the bill and explaining
each side’s actions.

Once a conference committee
completes its works, it can now be submitted to the floor for its
approval. Debate on conference reports is highly privileged and can
interrupt most other business.

Approval of the conference report
by both houses, along with any amendments on disagreement,
constitutes final approval of the bill.

After both houses have given final
approval to a bill, a final copy of the bill, known as the “enrolled
bill,” shall be printed, and certified as correct by the Secretary
of the Senate and the Secretary General of the House of
Representatives. After which, it will be signed by the Speaker of
the House and the Senate President.

A bill may become a law, even
without the President’s signature, if the President does not sign a
bill within 30 days from receipt in his office. A bill may also
become a law without the President’s signature if Congress overrides
a presidential veto by two-thirds vote.

A bill is filed in the Office
of the Secretary where it is given a corresponding number and
calendared for First Reading.

First Reading

Its title, bill number, and
author’s name are read on the floor, after which it is referred
to the proper committee.

Committee
Hearings/Report

Committee conducts hearings and
consultation meetings. It then either approves the proposed bill
without an amendment, approves it with changes, or recommends
substitution or consolidation with similar bills filed.

Calendaring for
Second Reading

The Committee Report with its
approved bill version is submitted to the Committee on Rules for
calendaring for Second Reading.

Second Reading

Bill author delivers
sponsorship speech on the floor. Senators engage in debate,
interpellation, turno en contra, and rebuttal to highlight the
pros and cons of the bill. A period of amendments incorporates
necessary changes in the bill proposed by the committee or
introduced by the Senators themselves on the floor.

Voting on
Second Reading

Senators vote on the second
reading version of the bill. If approved, the bill is calendared
for third reading.

Voting on Third
Reading

Printed copies of the bill’s
final version are distributed to the Senators. This time, only
the title of the bill is read on the floor. Nominal voting is
held. If passed, the approved Senate bill is referred to the
House of Representatives for concurrence.

At the House of
Representatives

The Lower Chamber follows the
same procedures (First Reading, Second Reading and Third
Reading).

Back to the
Senate

If the House-approved version
is compatible with that of the Senate’s, the final version’s
enrolled form is printed. If there are certain differences, a
Bicameral Conference Committee is called to reconcile
conflicting provisions of both versions of the Senate and of the
House of Representatives. Conference committee submits report on
the reconciled version of the bill, duly approved by both
chambers. The Senate prints the reconciled version in its
enrolled form.

Submission to
Malacañang

Final enrolled form is
submitted to Malacañang. The President either signs it into law,
or vetoes and sends it back to the Senate with veto message.